Wiliam Holden in Stalag 17 (1953)

(This post is part of the 7th Golden Boy Blogathon: A William Holden Celebration, hosted by The Flapper Dame and The Wonderful World of Cinema)

Harvey Lemeck, William Holden
and Robert Strauss 

William Holden was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actor, but only won once. As great as he was as Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard (1950) and as he would be as Max Schumacher in Network (1976), it was for his role as J.J. Sefton in Stalag 17 (1953) that he won his only Oscar for Best Actor.

Stalag 17 (1950) centres on American airmen being held as prisoners-of-war in the came called Stalag 17. In particular, the film focus on the men of Barracks 4. The barracks chief Sgt. "Hoffy" Hoffman (Richard Erdman) and security officer Sgt. Frank Price (Peter Graves) set up an escape of two men. Unfortunately, both men are shot in the escape attempt. Afterwards, the barracks' black marketeer, Sgt. J.J. Sefton, is suspected of having informed the Germans of the escape attempt. Sefton is very intelligent and individualistic, and something of a cynic.

Stalag 17 was based on the 1951 Broadway play of the same name by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski. Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski drew inspiration for the play from their own experiences as prisoners in Stalag 17B in Austria. The play opened on Broadway on May 8, 1951,  at the 48th Street Theatre. It ran for 472 performances. The play was produced by the legendary Jose Ferrer and featured some notable actors in its cast including Frank Campanella, John Ericson, Eric Fleming, Harvey Lembeck (who would reprise his role in the film), and Allan Melvin. 

It was while Stalag 17 was still running on Broadway that Paramount bought the film rights to the play. Billy Wilder, fresh from Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Ace in the Hole (1951), was set to direct. Billy Wilder suggested Charlton Heston for the role of J.J. Sefton, but he was no longer considered once the character evolved to become less heroic and more cynical. The role was then offered to Kirk Douglas, who turned down the part, something he later regretted. It was then that William Holden, who had worked with Billy Wilder on Sunset Boulevard (1950), was cast as J.J. Sefton.

With Edwin Blum, Billy Wilder would make substantial changes from the play Stalag 17. This was particularly true of its tone, which not only became more cynical but also more infused with dark humour. The film version of Stalag 17 became more firmly focused on Sefton. While the stage play was fairly straight-forward, Billy Wilder's film version would be something closer to a suspense thriller with touches of comedy. Indeed, some people have even counted Stalag 17 (1951) as film noir. 

One change requested by a Paramount executive would be resisted by Billy Wilder. The executive worried about the film's success in West Germany, and so he suggested that the guards in the prison camp be changed from Germans to Poles. Billy Wilder was both Polish and Jewish and had lost family in the Nazi concentration camps. He not only refused to change the nationality of the guards, but demanded that the executive apologize. 

Stalag 17 had a remarkable cast beyond William Holden. Four actors reprised their roles from the play: Harvey Lembeck as Sgt. Harry Shapiro, Robert Strauss as Stanislas "Animal" Kuzawa, William Pierson as Marko the Mailman, and Robert Shawley as Blondie Peterson. Edmund Trzcinski, who co-wrote the play with Donald Bevan, has a cameo in the film as a POW who gets a rather interesting letter from home. Gil Stratton, who plays Clarence "Cookie" Cook, the film's narrator and Sefton's aide, would later become a noted sportscaster with CBS. Of course, Otto Preminger who plays Stalag 17's commandant Colonel von Scherbach, was a renowned director. Don Taylor, who played Lieutenant James Dunbar (who is staying at Barracks 4 until he can be sent to an officer's camp), would later become a director himself , directing such films as Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977). Peter Graves, who played security officer Frank Price, would later become best known as Jim Phelps on Misson: Impossible. Also in the cast were Richard Erdman, Sig Ruman, and William Pierson. In an uncredited role as a singing POW was singer and songwriter Ross Bagdasarian, who in a few years would become famous as David Seville, the manager of The Chipmunks. 

The prison camp Stalag 17 was built at the John Show Ranch in Woodland Hills in Los Angels County. Interiors were filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. The weather actually cooperated with Billy Wilder and his plans for Stalag 17 (1953). He had wanted the camp to be muddy. Filming began on February 4, 1952, and lasted until March 29, 1952. This is generally the rainy season in Los Angeles, so Mother Nature provided the cast and crew with plenty of mud. In fact, it rained for days. Because his cast and crew had to work in the mud for days, Billy Wilder then chose to wear an expensive pair of custom made, English shoes, thinking it was the only fair thing to do. Of course, the shoes were ruined.

Most movies are shot out of sequence because shooting movies in chronological order is not only time-consuming, but more expensive. Despite this, Stalag 17 (1953) was shot in chronological order. This was to keep the identity of the informant in the movie secret for as long as possible. In fact, it was only in the last three days of shooting that the identity of the informant was made known.

Stalag 17 (1953) premiered in London on May 29, 1953. It premiered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on June 6, 1953. The movie picked up a good deal of critical acclaim. Clyde Gilmour in the Vancouver Sun appreciated the black humour of the film, writing, "Hollywood after Stalag 17 can no longer be accused of falsely idealizing Uncle Sam's warriors by portraying most them in the movies as boyish, wholesome, stainless-steel defenders of truth and beauty and apple pie and the American Way of Life." The critic at Harrison Reports noted "Thanks to the brilliant handling of the subject matter by producer-director Billy Wilder, and to the fine acting of the entire cast, the picture has been fashioned into a first-rate entertainment."Even the typically curmudgeonly Bosley Crowther of The New York Times referred to it as ""cracker-jack movie entertainment.

Audiences loved Stalag 17 (1953) as well. By January 1954, Stalag 17 (1953) had made $3.3 million. It would ultimately make $10 million. Unfortunately for Billy Wilder, he would not see his fair share of the profits from Stalag 17 (1953). Because his previous movie Ace in the Hole (1951) had lost a good deal of money, Paramount deducted the money it had lost from Billy Wilder's profits for Stalag 17 (1953). This would ultimately be one of the reasons Billy Wilder left Paramount.

Stalag 17 (1953) would receive its share of accolades. As mentioned earlier, William Holden won the Oscar for Best Actor for the film. Over the years, some have speculated that William Holden may have won the Oscar for Stalag 17 (1953) because he did not win the Oscar for Sunset Boulevard (1950). William Holden himself thought that Burt Lancaster should have won the Academy Award for Best Actor for From Here to Eternity (1953) instead. Of course, some would argue that William Holden should have won for both Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Stalag 17 (1953). Billy Wilder was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for Stalag 17 (1953) and Robert Strauss for Best Supporting Actor. 

Stalag 17 (1953) would have a lasting impact on popular culture. Indeed, it seems likely that every single prisoner-of-war movie made since, from The Great Escape (1963) to King Rat (1965) has been influenced by it. There was one television show set in a POW camp that playwrights Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski outright plagiarized their work.  In  January 1967, Messrs. Bevan and Trzcinski filed a lawsuit against CBS and Bing Crosby Productions alleging that the TV show Hogan's Heroes plagiarized Stalag 17. They claimed that in 1963 they had wrritten a one hour script based on Stalag 17 that CBS rejected. They further claimed that CBS then hired other writers to create a similar series, saving the network money. The case would not go to trial until after Hogan's Heroes ended its original network run. The jury actually decided in favour of Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski, only to have the judge reverse their decision. Quite simply, the judge found "striking differences in the dramatic mood of the two works."

Like many of Billy Wilder's films, Stalag 17 (1953) is a complex blend of drama, suspense, and comedy featuring often complicated characters. As Sefton, William Holden plays one of his most interesting characters, a self-serving cynic who at the same time is capable of both courage and loyalty. The rest of the cast, from Gil Stratton as the somewhat naive Cookie to Robert Strauss as the boisterous Animal, also give impressive performances. Not only did William Holden deserve to win the Oscar for Best Actor in Stalag 17 (1953), but the film itself should have been nominated for and won Best Picture, as well as other Oscars. From a director and a lead actor who made many classics, Stalag 17 (1953) numbers among the best films Billy Wilder and William Holden ever made.